Rebel leader waits for colleagues

In the Togolese capital, Lome, Corporal Foday Sankoh, the leader of the RUF, waited for the third day running on Tuesday to meet other leaders of the rebel movement to discuss their strategy for peace talks with the government of President Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. News organisations reported that Sankoh, sentenced to death for treason last year and released from his Freetown prison for the UN-sponsored talks, had met in the meantime with the Togolese president, General Gnassingbe Eyadema. AFP quoted him as telling Eyadema he was "ready to negotiate for peace" in Sierra Leone: "I expect to meet my colleagues perhaps today or tomorrow." News reports quoted officials saying it had been difficult coordinating transport for the rebel leaders from the bush to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, from where the UN was due to fly them to Lome.